Brawley School Road Widening to Include Bike Lanes and Grass Median

Those of us who live down Lake Norman’s infamous Brawley School peninsula know only too well that construction is well under way on the two-year widening project. The large, orange sign “warning, expect delays” blinks at us daily although by now we pretty much know what to expect.

One of my fellow Brawley School friends/clients asked me at lunch yesterday whether I had seen any renderings of the completed project and details as to whether there would be bike lanes, landscaping and other details which I hadn’t.

So, today I made full use of Google and uncovered some fairly well-hidden information on the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s website and contacted John R Cook, Resident Engineer, Statesville Construction who provided some prompt and exciting information as well.

Here are the Brawley School Road Widening Project Highlights:

Widen to four lanes with a median south of Southfork Rd to Talbert Rd

Sidewalks will be built on both sides

Sharp curves will be straighten (We can see this just from the grading that has already taken place)

The median will prohibit left turns into and out of individual properties along the project

The Design and Public Hearing Maps are available from this website as PDF files so you can see in great detail what the process will involve and what the end product will look like in 2011.

Mr. Cook, in response to my inquiry, provided unexpectedly good news:

There will be bike lanes!!! (This is such great news. Finally we will have safe cycling in our community!)

The median will be grass. There are no details yet regarding landscaping.

If you would like more information, John R. Cook can be reached at #707.876.3543.

Short term, it is a bit of a pain in the neck but the end result is going to be well worth it!